Last week, it was the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. This week, it was a group of donors and a United Nations report that recognized that the Palestinian Authority is meeting most of a sovereign state’s requirements. What was specifically glossed over was the U.N. report’s insistence that peace talks were essential to statehood. What is generally glossed over is that U.N. recognition would probably need to derive from a nonbinding resolution that would also require, in an oblique way, the much tougher climb of Security Council approval. And so what is particularly glossed over is that U.N. recognition of Palestine is like Godot: Looming as a very real-like figure, but probably not actually going to arrive.

The P.A. says it plans to attempt to seek statehood when the General Assembly next convenes, in September, in accordance with a plan put forth by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad back in 2009. Such a move would likely require Security Council approval—which is to say, the United States would have the opportunity to veto it—but neither the U.S. nor Israel wants it to get that far; indeed, one Israeli official worried about just what the U.S. would do, arguing, “Obama wants a Palestinian state and although the U.S. is not interested in a unilateral declaration, it would be hard for it to stand alone.” The administration put the kibosh on a Quartet meeting this week that may have imposed a peace plan on both sides—a sign, the official said, “of how deeply we depend on them.” He added, “But this hold-up will not change matters in the General Assembly and this is a trend we cannot change.”

Last week, it was the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. This week, it was a group of donors and a United Nations report that recognized that the Palestinian Authority is meeting most of a sovereign state’s requirements. What was specifically glossed over was the U.N. report’s insistence that peace talks were essential to statehood. What is generally glossed over is that U.N. recognition would probably need to derive from a nonbinding resolution that would also require, in an oblique way, the much tougher climb of Security Council approval. And so what is particularly glossed over is that U.N. recognition of Palestine is like Godot: Looming as a very real-like figure, but probably not actually going to arrive.

The P.A. says it plans to attempt to seek statehood when the General Assembly next convenes, in September, in accordance with a plan put forth by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad back in 2009. Such a move would likely require Security Council approval—which is to say, the United States would have the opportunity to veto it—but neither the U.S. nor Israel wants it to get that far; indeed, one Israeli official worried about just what the U.S. would do, arguing, “Obama wants a Palestinian state and although the U.S. is not interested in a unilateral declaration, it would be hard for it to stand alone.” The administration put the kibosh on a Quartet meeting this week that may have imposed a peace plan on both sides—a sign, the official said, “of how deeply we depend on them.” He added, “But this hold-up will not change matters in the General Assembly and this is a trend we cannot change.”